<aside> 📋 Frequency: Trigger-Based | Time: 15 min | Trigger: When a prospect goes quiet for 7+ days

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Prospects go quiet for reasons that have nothing to do with disinterest — competing priorities, internal approvals, calendar chaos. Most consultants wait too long to follow up, then send something apologetic that reopens the conversation at a lower energy than where it left off. This SOP activates a structured follow-up within the right window, before the prospect's context goes cold.

Prerequisites

• The prospect's record in your pipeline tracker with last-contact date, last message sent, and current stage
• The original conversation thread or proposal (if applicable)
• This SOP is triggered during your Weekly Pipeline Review when stalled prospects are flagged — run it immediately after flagging rather than batching it to a separate session

Procedure

1. Review the prospect's record. Confirm the last message sent, the date, and the stage. Determine whether the silence followed a proposal, a discovery call, or a general expression of interest — this determines which skill to use next.
2. If the prospect went quiet after initial contact or early conversation (before a proposal), run the Follow-Up Sequence Writer skill with the prospect's context, last message, and days since last contact as input.
3. If the prospect went quiet after a proposal or substantive conversation (14+ days), run the Re-Engagement Email Writer skill instead, using the proposal details and the time elapsed as input.
4. Review the skill output. Edit for accuracy — confirm that any specific references to prior conversation are correct. Remove anything that sounds like an apology for following up.
5. Send the message. Update the prospect's record in your pipeline tracker with the new contact date and a follow-up date 7 days out. The prospect will appear again in your Weekly Pipeline Review if no response arrives.

Expected Outcome

A follow-up message sent within 15 minutes of triggering this SOP, the prospect's record updated with the new contact date, and a follow-up date set. The stalled prospect is back in active sequence.

<aside> ⚠️ Common mistakes:

— Waiting until the prospect has been quiet for 3+ weeks before following up. At 7 days you're a relevant follow-up. At 21 days you're a cold email they don't remember. The trigger is 7 days for a reason.

— Opening with an apology. "Just checking in" and "Sorry to bother you" signal low confidence and reset the relationship at a lower status than where it ended. Follow up from the same standing as your last conversation.

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